White fingers after excessive motorcycle driving: a case report

An 18-year-old male presented with Raynaud's phenomenon which was found to be caused by occlusion of the proper palmar digital arteries on the right hand and obstruction of the superficial palmar arterial arch on the left hand. These lesions in the arteries of both hands resemble those found in patients with vibration-induced white fingers such as in mine or foundry workers. The only likely cause for the pathological vascular findings in our patient was an exposure to vibration due to excessive off-street motorcycle driving. Therapy with intraarterial prostaglandins resolved the ischemic syndrome but it promptly recurred when the patient resumed motor cycle driving. Therefore, we suggest that excessive cross country motor cycle driving may cause vibration-induced white fingers.